Daniela Cimini

About

Daniela Cimini is a Professor and Department Head of Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech, with a research focus on the mechanics and dynamics of mitotic apparatus components that ensure accurate chromosome segregation during mitosis, as well as how changes in chromosome numbers affect cell division and proliferation. Her laboratory employs live-cell imaging, quantitative microscopy, and protein inhibition techniques to identify cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying normal and abnormal cell division behaviors. Her work aims to understand the mechanisms leading to inaccurate chromosome segregation, which is a feature of cancer cells and contributes to carcinogenesis, with the goal of developing diagnostic, preventive, and therapeutic protocols. Cimini's educational background includes a Ph.D. in Genetics and Molecular Biology from the University of Rome 'La Sapienza,' with a dissertation on cellular mechanisms of aneuploidy induction in mammalian cells. She has held various academic positions at Virginia Tech since 2005, including Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and now Professor and Department Head. Her research has been recognized through numerous awards, including the Virginia Tech Scholar of the Week, the Department of Biological Sciences Outstanding Research Award, and invitations as a keynote speaker. She has also been involved in international research as a visiting faculty at University Roma Tre in Italy and has received multiple honors for her…

Research topics

• Genetics
• Cell biology
• Biology
• Evolutionary biology

Selected publications

• Asymmetric clustering of centrosomes defines the early evolution of tetraploid cells

  eLife · 2020 · 41 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Tetraploidy has long been of interest to both cell and cancer biologists, partly because of its documented role in tumorigenesis. A common model proposes that the extra centrosomes that are typically acquired during tetraploidization are responsible for driving tumorigenesis. However, tetraploid cells evolved in culture have been shown to lack extra centrosomes. This observation raises questions about how tetraploid cells evolve and more specifically about the mechanisms(s) underlying centrosome…

  DOI

• A patient-designed tissue-engineered model of the infiltrative glioblastoma microenvironment

  npj Precision Oncology · 2022-07-29 · 25 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Glioblastoma is an aggressive brain cancer characterized by diffuse infiltration. Infiltrated glioma cells persist in the brain post-resection where they interact with glial cells and experience interstitial fluid flow. We use patient-derived glioma stem cells and human glial cells (i.e., astrocytes and microglia) to create a four-component 3D model of this environment informed by resected patient tumors. We examine metrics for invasion, proliferation, and putative stemness in the conte…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Twenty years of merotelic kinetochore attachments: a historical perspective

  Chromosome Research · 2023-07-19 · 14 citations

  reviewOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The fate of extra centrosomes in newly formed tetraploid cells: should I stay, or should I go?

  Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology · 2023-07-27 · 14 citations

  reviewOpen accessSenior author

  An increase in centrosome number is commonly observed in cancer cells, but the role centrosome amplification plays along with how and when it occurs during cancer development is unclear. One mechanism for generating cancer cells with extra centrosomes is whole genome doubling (WGD), an event that occurs in over 30% of human cancers and is associated with poor survival. Newly formed tetraploid cells can acquire extra centrosomes during WGD, and a generally accepted model proposes that centrosome…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A fine balance among key biophysical factors is required for recovery of bipolar mitotic spindle from monopolar and multipolar abnormalities

  Molecular Biology of the Cell · 2023-06-21 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access

  A biophysical model was developed for centrosome movement during mitotic–spindle assembly to investigate how a cell manages to separate and cluster its centrosomes depending on needs to achieve bipolar spindle formation. The model provides explanation for related experimental phenomena and mechanistic insights into robust spindle bipolarization.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Combining modeling and experiments to study the evolution of cells with altered ploidy

  NIH · $1.4M · 2021–2026

• Dissecting the interplay between forces and dynamics of the mitotic apparatus and kinetochore attachments

  NSF · $579k · 2015–2020

• Experimental and Computational Analysis of Merotelic Kinetochore Formation, Dynamics, and Correction

  NSF · $944k · 2009–2013

Frequent coauthors

• Francesca Degrassi

  Institute of Molecular Biology and Pathology

  22 shared

• Alexey Khodjakov

  New York State Department of Health

  20 shared

• Nicolaas C. Baudoin

  Virginia Tech

  19 shared

• Mathew Bloomfield

  Virginia Tech

  17 shared

• Lisa Cameron

  Duke University

  16 shared

• Joshua M. Nicholson

  15 shared

• Jordi Camps

  Consorci Institut D'Investigacions Biomediques August Pi I Sunyer

  14 shared

• E. D. Salmon

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  13 shared

Awards & honors

• Virginia Tech Scholar of the Week (2016)
• Virginia Tech National Distinction Program (2016)
• Department of Biological Sciences Outstanding Research Award…
• The Triangle Cytoskeleton Meeting Keynote Speaker (2014)
• Department of Biological Sciences Outstanding Research Award…

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